French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "que" in French?

kuh — one light syllable. The "qu" is a bare "k" with no "w" in it at all.

que /kə/

Unstressed and quick — a hinge between two clauses rather than a word with weight of its own. The beat belongs to the verbs on either side.

Listen: que

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Sound it out

qu Always just "k" in French. English "qu" carries a "w" (queen, quiet); French dropped that centuries ago, so "que", "qui", "quel" all start with a plain "k".

e A weak schwa with slight rounding. Before a vowel it elides away entirely, giving "qu'il", "qu'elle", "qu'on".

Hear it in a sentence

Je pense que c'est fermé.

I think it's closed.

Listen: Je pense que c'est fermé.

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"Je pense que c'est fermé" shows French requiring "que" where English can drop "that" — you cannot say "je pense c'est fermé". Notice the chain of reductions: "je" is a schwa, "que" is a schwa, and "c'est" is already contracted, so the whole sentence compresses to about four real beats: zhuh-pahns-kuh-say-fer-MAY.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers put a "w" in, producing "kweh", because every English "qu" has one. There is no "w". The second mistake is over-articulating the vowel into "kay", which competes with "quai". And a grammatical-phonetic one: failing to elide, so "que il" comes out where "qu'il" belongs — the vowel must vanish before another vowel.